


And Gentle in the Night Love is Born

by Merfilly



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Aftercare, Comfort, Identity, Introspection, M/M, Pon Farr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 14:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3385145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of his divorce, Spock thought the fever fully abated. Yet, shortly after completing the next mission, he knows better, and summons Bones for aid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Gentle in the Night Love is Born

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lynndyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynndyre/gifts).



Spock looked down at the sleeping human beside him and let all the implications of the day and night prior sink in. There were bruises, cuts, even a few welts that had raised from the initial contact.

Guilt was an emotion. So was regret. Logically speaking, there simply was no reason to feel such things over actions that had been unavoidable once the delayed fever had set back in.

_"We could try sedation… or you could quit being your stubborn pointy-eared self and tell him you need him!"_

The doctor had been firmly under the belief that it was their captain that had drawn the blood-fever back, once Jim was safely out of danger from their fight on Vulcan.

Jim was _t'hy'la_ , but the translation to _lover_ was inaccurate in many cases. The connection was a soul-deep one, bordered in a loss of self, yet physical intimacy was not a necessity to such bonds. Leonard — it felt different in Spock's mind to think the name, when even the human found 'Bones' to be more suitable — had never realized that there were far more reasons to find the doctor a worthy and compatible mate.

After their sharing of bodies, Spock understood better. His lover had never wished to deny Jim any potential happiness, and refused to act upon his own desires. Part of that refusal had also been pride, for neither Spock nor Leonard had known how to see the mutual attraction that had built in their service together.

_"Need implies a loss of control to a primal urging," Spock had answered, yet he had known that was exactly the situation he was in. "However, your logic, as emotive as it ever is, stands." With a shaking hand, the curse of the blood-fever, Spock had extended just two fingers out to touch the inside of the doctor's wrist._

Spock closed his eyes, recalling in perfect detail how Leonard's eyes had gone so wide in shock, the ripple of those emotions flooding him just from the light contact. More importantly, the doctor had laid his hypospray to the side, composing himself in that moment from professional to personal.

_"I know, from what was shared with me, that 'careful' and 'gentle' aren't in the cards," Leonard had told him, facing the real chance of being hurt with his typical courage underlying the blatant desire. "No matter what, I do know what it means to stay."_

Once again, Leonard had shown his basic understanding of the duality in Spock's nature, giving Spock recourse against the guilt that tried to break his discipline. Opening his eyes, the Vulcan looked down again, focusing on which marks looked as if they would impact the doctor's ability to perform his duties. Searching the aid kit that had been brought earlier, Spock was able to find one of the small tissue-stabilizer units.

How many times had Leonard healed him? There was a sense of the human concept of karma, the more ancient one of Egyptian _ma'at_ to be able to heal the damage he had inflicted before his lover even awakened.

"Busy-body Vulcan," came out slightly slurred as Spock was only sixty-two percent done in his process.

"As you would never allow a crewman to attend duty in less than prime health, it is my duty as your executive officer to insure you benefit from such care as well," Spock said without missing a beat. He did not protest, though, when Leonard shifted to put a hand along Spock's thigh, even though maintaining that contact was awkward as he continued his ministrations.

"I'll put up with that this time," the doctor grumbled. "Only because I do have events scheduled I can't push off today. It is the day after the day after me coming here, isn't it?"

"Astute sense of time, doctor, for you are correct," Spock said, knowing the surprise communicated itself in the residual psionic link.

"At least call me Len, or Bones, while I'm still naked in your bed," he groused, finally rolling over so Spock could continue his treatment… and so he could look up at Spock. Their eyes met while the skin-to-skin contact let them each feel the other's presence and true opinions.

"You call yourself both, but 'Bones' often floats up more, in your thoughts of who you are to the ship, to the captain," Spock analyzed. "Len is… the part of you that is not the crewman, the ship doctor, the officer of Starfleet." He tipped his head at that. "Are all humans possessed of a sense of multiple identities that are always true, yet focused via circumstances?"

Leonard smiled at that curiosity… and the smile deepened as the realization of Spock's willingness to ask such things seeped in. "Yes, or at least most of the ones I've known. Jim comes closest to being one and the same all the time… but he does relax with us, with Scotty sometimes, from being The Captain."

"Fascinating." Spock applied the tissue stabilizer to the worst of the damage along Leonard's front, considering that. Was it so far from the duality of his heritage? Had he merely pushed the 'too-human' persona deep in reaction to his father's disapproval? 

"You know, it's almost human to get thoughtful after great sex," Leonard drawled at him, bringing Spock's eyes back to that smile.

How many times had the sight of such a smile made Spock question the denial of the kinder emotions? Jim's, Uhura's, Scott's, and especially Leonard's smile all made Spock feel a gentle peace in himself, as if the universe were less cruel in its expression. Even aside from the maudlin sentiment, that concept also fell prey to animism to think such.

"I am not well-equipped with data to establish the merits of our sexual activity," Spock said with complete seriousness, moving away from his inspection of illogical emotive responses to smiles.

Leonard pushed up slowly in the bed, leaning in until his lips came to touch Spock's.

Even without the blood-fever, there was a purely primal reaction of desire accompanied by a raw emotional pull for more of what Leonard offered.

"I can fix that," Len promised him, moving the tissue stabilizer away and drawing Spock down to the bed to explore more of what they had moved into, this time with nothing to make regrets mar the occasion.


End file.
